Double-edge combination dry shaver and finishing hair clipper with adjustable head



Oct. 18, 1966 M. ANDls 3,279,055

DOUBLE-EDGE COMBINATION DRY SHAVER AND FINISHING HAIR CLIPPER WITHADJUSTABLE HEAD Filed oct. 28, 1964- I N VE NTOR. /l//f//f/r iva/5United States Patent() 3,279,056 DOUBLE-EDGE COMBINATION DRY SHAVER ANDFINISHING HAIR` CLIPPER WITH AD- JUSTABLE HEAD Mathew Andis, Racine,Wis., assignor to Andis Clipper Co., Racine, Wis., a corporation ofWisconsin Filed Oct. 28, 1964, Ser. No. 407,024 2 Claims. (Cl. 30-34.1)

This invention relates to a double-edge combination dry shaver andlnishing hair clipper with adjustable head.

The device of the present invention may be regarded as a hair clipperand dry shaver combined in one instrument so that the same instrumentmay be usde as a nisher for hair trimming and shaving, .thus eliminatingaccessory equipment such -as a straight edge razor, soap, towels, etc.and the operations commonly employed in connection therewith.

'I'he motor case, which serves as a handle, is symmet-tical and theclipping head with its .double edged comb .and cutter blades is swiveledthereto on a transverse axis so that either edge of the blade may bepositioned at the conventional 30 angle to the casing.

The comb blade has an open side which desirably has teeth which, by wayof example, are of 4t-he pitch and thickness of .a regular No. 0000blade of approximately 1/32 pitch and .010 inch thickness vi-n the a-reaof the cut. Some years ago, these dimensions were adapted by severalclipper manufactures as standard for such a blade.

Along its other side, the comb blade may 'be closed Vand may have linerteeth, or may have perforations in its intermediate area, or may havesuch perforations and also minute notches along bot'h margins which maybe regarded as teeth of minimum extent. The preferred arrangement .issuch that the closed side of the comb blade constitutes .a iiange whichextends substantially at right angles to the face of the blade and intowhich the teeth extend so that the comb blade can be used on edge to-work -in limited space.

The cylindrical swivelling mechanism which mounts the head on theclipper case has a shield for excluding hair and has means for providingbraking friction to hold the head in adjusted position. There is auniversal swivel between the driving arm of the motor and the drivenpart of the vibratory blade and 4an arrangement whereby a spring on thearm provides uniform tension on the cutter in all positions ofadjustment of the head.

In lthe drawings:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary view .taken in section on the .line 1-1 of FIG.3.

FIG. 2 is a fragment-ary detail view taken in section on the line 2-2 ofFIG. 3.

FIG 3 is a fragmentary detail view in section taken on the line 3 3 ofFIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 showing the head swiveled to one ofits operating positions.

FIG. 5 is a view in side elevation of the par-ts shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary detail view on an enlarged scale of the combblade shown in F'IG. 5 as viewed in the plane indicated at 6-6 in FIG.5.

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6 showing a modified comb bladestructure.

FIG. 8 lis a fragmentary detail view in perspective showing a furthermodified embodiment.

'I'he clipper case .'10 which also serves as a handle contains a drivingmotor of which only the vibratory armature 12 is illustrated. BracketIarms 14 and 1.6 screwed to the sides of the case .10 have registeringapertures 18 for the bearing trunnions 20 at .the ends of the swiveledhead 22. 'Ihe cylindrical periphery of the hea-d is re- 3,279,056Patented Oct. 18, 1966 ICC lieved and provides shoulders 2-4 and 26engaged with the side margins of the semi-tubular hair-guard 28 which ininterposed between the generally cylindrical bearing surface 30 of thehead and the complementary bearing surface 32 of the case ('FIG. 3). Thehair-guard is prefer-ably made of stainless steel.

The arcuate extent of the hair guard 28 is less than that of lthebea-ring surface 30. A slot 36 in the hairguard clears the blade drivingarm 38. As the head 22 is swiveled from side to side, the hair-guard 28-is picked up by one of the shoulders 24 4or 26 .to partake of theswivelling movement and to limit the swivelling movement when the end-of the slot 36 is reached. The fact that the hair-guard has lessangular extent than the bearing surface 30 provides .a cer-tain degreeof lost motion between the hair guard and the head. Consequently, in theret-urn swivelling movement of the head, .the guard remains stationaryuntil picked up by the opposite shoulder. This arrangement assures theexclusion of hair from the interior of lthe head in -all positions ofthe head.

Bias of .the slightly resilient bracket arms 14 and 16 pressing againstthe ends of the oscillatory head 22 serves to maintain the head subjectto submission braking pressure to hold it in any -selected position ofadjustment. Normally, the head is placed in one or another of extremepositions of angular adjustment.

The double-edged comb blade 40 is of channel-shaped cross section asclearly appears in FIGS. 3, 4, 5 and 8. At its open side, it has alia-nge 42 having teeth 44 which, in the instant exempliiication of theinvention, may lbe assumed, illustra-tively, to be the comb teeth of aconventional 0000 clipper. These are of approximately 1/32 inch in pitchand .010 inch thickness in the area between the terminal .teeth 46, thelatter being of somewhat increased thickness in the preferredembodiment.

At -the so-called closed side, the comb bla-de 40 h-as a flange 48 whichmay be provided with extremely ne shaver teeth at 50 (FIG. 6) .or withshaver openings 52 (FIG. 7) or with a combination of openings 52 andvery line notches at 54 and 56 which serve as teeth (IFIG. 8). 'In anycase, it is desired that the margins at the ends of the ange 48 bethickened as shown at 58 in FIGS. 6, 7 and 8, to take the pressure andenable the user to make a closer cut Without danger of injury to theskin.

For connecting the channel-shaped comb blade 40 to the head 22, I usescrews 60 which pass through a nonmetallic bearing member 62 into bosses64 which project from the head 22. The bosses extend through slots 66 inthe vibratory shear blade 68. This blade is channelshaped (FIG. 4) andis guided on the side and top surfaces of member 62. The vibratory shearblade 68 has toothed flanges 70 #and 72, respectively complementary toanges 42 and 48 of the shear blade 40.

For transmitting motion from the armature 12 to the vibratory blade 68,the post 38 which projects from the armature 12 is provided with aterminal ball 74, the center of which preferably lies on the transverseaxis of oscillation of the cylindrical head 22. The post 38 is taperedat 76 in approaching the ball 74. Embracing the ball is a bifurcatedsocket 78 at the end of fitting 80, which is screwed to the center ofthe vibratory blade 68 (FIGS. 2, 3 and 4). Externally, the `socket 78 islikewise spherical and engaged by a hollow cap 82 concentric with post38. The cap floats on the post and transmits to the tting 80 the bias ofa compression spring 84 which encircles the post. Because of the coaxialarrangement of the parts, the bias transmitted through the cap 82 andfitting 80 to the blade 68 maintains blade tension substantiallyconstant in .all positions of oscillatory adjustment of the head.

The procedure in nishing -a hair cut involves two stages of operation asfollows:

First: The operator swivels the blade head to the position shown inFIGS. 4 and 5 with the open teeth of flange 42 of the comb blade 40directed outwardly. With the handle so held that the teeth areapproximately at right angles to the surface of the skin, the blade isguided along the edge of the area to be outlined. After outlining iscompleted, the teeth are placed in faceV contact with the skin and thedevice functions as a clipper, all hair outside of the outlined areabeing removed by clipping, leaving hair -as stubble which, in theassumed dimensions of the parts, will have the approximate length of.010 inch.

Second: The head is now thrown to its other extreme of movement in whichthe closed side of the blade yis directed outwardly from the handle. Theperforated surface is now held yin face contact with the skin and guidedover the area previously clipped to shave off the stubble ofapproximately .010 inch left by the clipping above described. Only thestubble which is shorter'than vthe diameter of the perforations 52 willbe received readily into multiple perforations. The hair in thiscategory will be clipped close to the skin.V The longer hair` at theedge of the outline will bend when contacted by the leading edge of theclosed m-argin of flange 48 and will not enter the perforations andtherefore will remain uncut. It will be understood that for thisoperation the yform of the blade `show nin FIG. 7 is perferred to theforms shown yin FIGS. 6 or 8.

It will, of course, be understood that various other combinations ofblade dimensions and pitch may be substituted.

I claim:

1. A double edged hair clipper comprising the combination with a c-asingand a motor operatively mounted therein and provided With a vibratorydriving member, a rockably -adjustable head for which said casingprovides bearing means fixing an axis of oscillation, a comb operativelymounted onsaid head in a position spaced outwardly from said axis andprovided with two sets of teeth projecting in different directions, acutter blade having two sets of teeth respectively complementary to, andin bearing engagement with, respective sets of teeth of the comb, meansguiding the cutter for reciprocation with -respect to the head and comb,and a driving connection from the vibratory member to the cutterincluding an arm lixed to the cutter blade at a point spaced outwardlyfrom said axis and projecting rearwardly from the cutter blade towardsaid axis, the arm and the vibratory member having Ia pivotal motiontransmitting connection intersected by said axis, said connection beingadapted t-o provide for transmission of motion from said member to thecutter in all positions of adjustment of the head with respect to thecasing.

2. A double-edged hair clipper comprising the combination with a motorincluding a driving member 'and a handle upon which said motor ismounted, a blade driving arm mounted on said member, means providinggenerally cylindrical bearing surfaceson said handle at opt posite sidesof said arm, a head having bearing surfaces complementary to those ofsaid means, means for pivot- A ally mounting the head on the handle foroscillation on an axis with which the surfaces of said means areconcentric,

a channel-shaped comb blade having oppositely directed anges providedwith cutting edges of differing pitch, said comb blade being mounted onsaid head to partake of oscillatory adjustment thereof, a cutter bladeof generally channeled form having Voppositely directed flanges providedwith cutting edges complementary to and in operative bearing engagementwith the said llanges of the comb, and means providing a drivingconnection between the arm and the cutter blade, said last means havinga joint substantially coaxial with the axis of oscillation of said head,said joint comprising a ball on said arm, a socket member connected withthe head and embracing the ball and having a generally sphericalexternal bearing surface, and a pressure member having a complementaryconcave bearing surface mounted on the arm, said arm having acompression spring in thrust engagement with the pressure member andholding it in operative bearing engagement with the socket member.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS WILLIAM FELDMAN,Primary Examiner.

MYRON C. KRUSE, Examiner.

1. A DOUBLE EDGED HAIR CLIPPER COMPRISING THE COMBINATION WITH A CASINGAND A MOTOR OPERATIVELY MOUNTED THEREIN AND PROVIDED WITH A VIBRATORYDRIVING MEMBER, A ROCKABLY ADJUSTABLE HEAD FOR WHICH SAID CASINGPROVIDES BEARING MEANS FIXING AN AXIS OF OSCILLATION, A COMB OPERATIVELYMOUNTED ON SAID HEAD IN A POSITION SPACED OUTWARDLY FROM SAID AXIS ANDPROVIDED WITH TWO SETS OF TEETH PROJECTING IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS, ACUTTER BLADE HAVING TWO SETS OF TEETH RESPECTIVELY COMPLEMENTARY TO, ANDIN BEARING ENGAGEMENT WITH, RESPECTIVE SETS OF TEETH OF THE COMB, MEANSGUIDING THE CUTTER FOR RECIPROCATION WITH RESPECT TO THE HEAD AND COMB,AND A DRIVING CONNECTION FROM THE VIBRATORY MEMBER TO THE CUTTERINCLUDING AN ARM FIXED TO THE CUTTER BLADE AT A POINT SPACED OUTWARDLYFROM SAID AXIS AND PROJECTING REARWARDLY FROM THE CUTTER BLADE TOWARDSAID AXIS, THE ARM AND THE VIBRATORY MEMBER HAVING A PIVOTAL MOTIONTRANSMITTING CONNECTION INTERSECTED BY SAID AXIS, SAID CONNECTION BEINGADAPTED TO PROVIDE FOR TRANSMISSION OF MOTION FROM SAID MEMBER TO THECUTTER IN ALL POSITIONS OF ADJUSTMENT OF THE HEAD WITH RESPECT TO THECASING.